The present disclosure relates generally to food technology. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to methods for detecting film formation potential in food products packaged in various types of packages including, for example, glass jars and plastic containers.
It is common in the food industry to store packaged food products in a warehouse prior to shipping of the products to retail stores. In this regard, food products are manufactured and packaged in individual containers such as glass jars or plastic containers before being packaged in bulk for distribution to retail stores. Depending on factors such as retail demand or shipping schedules, the packaged food products may sit in a warehouse for a significant amount of time. Typically, however, packaged food products may sit in a warehouse, or on a delivery truck during transport, for at least several days. During this time period, the warehouse temperatures can fluctuate wildly between warm and cool temperatures, which often correspond to daytime and nighttime temperatures, respectively. For example, a warehouse in a warm temperature climate may have a widely varying temperature range in a twenty-four hour period including very warm temperatures during the day and very cool temperatures at night.
Although such temperature changes generally do not affect the edibility of the products, cyclic changes in temperature (either losses or gains of temperature) can cause issues with product quality management. For example, temperature cycling between warm and cool temperatures can cause a film to form on either or both of the product surface or the interior lid surface. Although the product may still be consumed, the films are rather unsightly and can invoke a feeling of poor product quality in the mind of the consumer. If the consumer is sufficiently turned-off by the aesthetics of the product, the consumer may refuse to buy any further food products manufactured by the brand and/or may have negative feelings about all products manufactured by the brand. Accordingly, such unacceptable product quality could be a costly problem for food product manufacturers.
Therefore, there exists a need for methods that are able to detect film formation potential in food products.